Image of the Day: Microbes on Fake Mars

By simulating the structure and composition of Mars’s rocky materials, scientists observe how the metal-eating, extreme environment–inhabiting microbe Metallosphaera sedula could alter extraterrestrial environments.

Aggie Mika

Oct 18, 2017 | 1 min read

Synthetic martian rocky material, biotransformed by Metallosphaera sedula COPYRIGHT TETYANA MILOJEVIC See D. Kölbl et al., “Exploring fingerprints of the extreme thermoacidophile Metallosphaera sedula grown on synthetic martian regolith materials as the sole energy sources,” Frontiers in Microbiology, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01918, 2017.

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